Over the past few years, PCA has seen a historic number of applications and a sustained growth in our enrollment! Consequentially, we have seen capacity met and wait pools develop for many grades earlier each year. In order to maintain smaller class sizes and lower teacher to student ratios, each classroom has a set capacity. Once the current number applicants exceeds the number of available seats in a specific grade, a wait pool will begin for that grade.
Portsmouth Christian Academy’s admission process operates using wait pools rather than waitlists. Our wait pools place qualified candidates in a group allowing our Admissions Committee to offer placement to the most suitable applicant when a seat becomes available. In the event a seat becomes available and there are two equally qualified candidates, the seat will be offered to the applicant who entered the wait pool first. PCA adds 5-6 children to a wait pool for each grade level that reaches capacity before the grade is officially closed to applicants.
In order to get your child officially placed on our wait pool, you must first complete our application process in full. Once your application and all supplemental documents are received, our Admissions Committee will review your child’s file and either accept your child into the applicable wait pool or deny admissions for the current school year. Completing the application process and being accepted into the wait pool allows for a quick and seamless transition to enrollment once a seat opens up.
PCA does reserve the right to offer preferred consideration to qualified siblings of our current students as well as children of our current staff, faculty and alumni.
Take a look below to see a real-time breakdown of classroom openings, wait pools and grades no longer accepting applications.
Current Wait Pools
as of April 2nd 2024
| Preschool | Lower School | Middle School | Upper School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Year Old 2 Day | Kindergarten | 6th Grade | 9th Grade |
| 3 Year Old 3 Day | 1st Grade | 7th Grade | 10th Grade |
| 3 Year Old 5 Day | 2nd Grade | 8th Grade | 11th Grade |
| 4 Year Old 3 Day | 3rd Grade | 12th Grade | |
| 4 Year Old 5 Day | 4th Grade | ||
| 5th Grade |
Don’t See Your Question Here?
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In order to officially get your child placed in our wait pool, you must first complete our application process in full. Once your application and all supplemental documents are received, our Admissions Committee will review your child’s file and either accept your child into the applicable wait pool or denied admissions for the current school year. Completing the application process and being accepted into the wait pool allows for a quick and seamless transition to enrollment once a seat opens up.
Please note: If your child is denied admission for the coming school year, our team will communicate with you as soon as the decision is made, so you can make alternate arrangements.
We encourage families to complete applications in full, for all their children, even if one of the grades they are interested in is at capacity. This is the only way we can ensure your child is in our wait pool. Please note: enrollment is ever-changing and seats often open up due to life circumstances such as family moves.
Offers for an official seat can occur either due to the withdrawal of a currently enrolled student or a decision by PCA to expand grade capacity with the addition of a classroom in a specific grade. If a current family needs to withdraw their child, they would need to communicate the request to PCA by May 8th which would likely be the time a seat would become available to applicants in our wait pool.
Wait pools for the 2023-2024 school year will officially close on August 31st, 2023. Applicants in the wait pool, who wish to be considered for mid-year enrollment or who would like to roll their application over to the 2024-2025 school year, can do so by request.
We recommend families begin the application process during our Early Decision period beginning September 1st for the following school year. Families that apply during this time are less likely to encounter a wait pool and also help to inform where additional classes may need to be added for the upcoming school year.
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